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Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on June 26, 2019.

Whole area pledge for 2050

“Our vision is to be a Borough where the community collectively works together to achieve a sustainable future, protecting and enhancing our natural environment and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022

Climate Plan Scorecard

This council’s climate plans as of 20th September 2021 were assessed and scored by trained Climate Emergency UK volunteers, as part of the Council Climate Plan Scorecards project.

Show the full Scorecard Read more about the scoring process

SectionRoyal Borough of Windsor and MaidenheadAverage single tier council
Total score48%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
12/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
6/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
4/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
8/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
2/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

560.1 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.7 tCO2

per person

2.8 ktCO2

per km2

42%

Domestic

33%

Transport

14%

Commercial

6%

Industry

4%

Public Sector

1%

Agriculture

Data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy “subset dataset”, representing carbon dioxide emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in terms of emissions profile, deprivation, rural/urban population density, and geographical nearness. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Surrey County Council94%Yes2030July 9, 2019
St Albans City and District Council93%No2030July 9, 2019
Surrey Heath Borough Council91%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council89%Yes2030No
Three Rivers District Council88%No2030May 21, 2019
Elmbridge Borough Council88%No2030July 17, 2019
Mid Sussex District Council87%YesNo targetNo
Rochford District Council85%Yes2030No
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council84%Yes2035July 23, 2019
Bromsgrove District Council84%YesNo targetJuly 24, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in terms of their emissions profile, based on the latest data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Buckinghamshire Council94%No2050No
Surrey Heath Borough Council93%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Hertsmere Borough Council92%Yes2050Sept. 18, 2019
Surrey County Council92%Yes2030July 9, 2019
St Albans City and District Council92%No2030July 9, 2019
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council91%Yes2030July 17, 2019
Hart District Council90%Yes2040Sept. 1, 2019
Tandridge District Council89%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2020
East Renfrewshire Council89%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Three Rivers District Council88%No2030May 21, 2019
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Hertfordshire County Council99%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Bracknell Forest Council99%Yes2050No
Slough Borough Council98%YesNo targetNo
Surrey Heath Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Runnymede Borough Council97%NoNo targetOct. 17, 2019
Wokingham Borough Council97%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Surrey County Council97%Yes2030July 9, 2019
Woking Borough Council97%Yes2030July 25, 2019
Rushmoor Borough Council97%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Spelthorne Borough Council96%No2050Oct. 14, 2020

These councils are the most similar to Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in terms of the proportion of their population living in high deprivation, medium deprivation, and low deprivation neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Surrey Heath Borough Council98%Yes2030Oct. 9, 2019
Guildford Borough Council97%Yes2030July 23, 2019
St Albans City and District Council96%No2030July 9, 2019
Stroud District Council96%No2030Dec. 13, 2018
Winchester City Council96%Yes2024June 5, 2019
Surrey County Council96%Yes2030July 9, 2019
East Hampshire District Council95%No2050July 18, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council95%No2040Aug. 13, 2020
Cotswold District Council95%NoNo targetJuly 3, 2019
Mole Valley District Council95%No2030June 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in terms of the proportion of their population living in urban, rural, and highly rural neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council98%Yes2040Sept. 18, 2019
Welwyn Hatfield Council98%Yes2030June 19, 2019
Hertfordshire County Council98%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Milton Keynes97%Yes2030Jan. 23, 2019
West of England Combined Authority97%Yes2030July 1, 2019
Surrey County Council97%Yes2030July 9, 2019
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority97%No2040Nov. 7, 2019
Dacorum Council97%Yes2050July 17, 2019
Swansea City Council96%No2030June 27, 2019
St Albans City and District Council96%No2030July 9, 2019

Features

This council’s climate plan has been tagged with the following features:

Powers & Responsibilities

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is a Unitary Authority, with powers over:

Council buildings and staff

Climate actions might include:

  • making council offices more energy efficient
  • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
  • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    Environmental health

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing industrial emissions through air quality enforcement
    • bringing up insulation and energy efficiency standards through enforcement of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and Decent Homes Standard 2000, for cold and damp conditions in private rental and social housing

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Passenger transport

    Climate actions might include:

    • encouraging bus and private hire operators to use low-emission vehicles, through licensing requirements or Clean Air Zones
    • incentivising bus use by improving routes, timetables, and ticket prices through ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ with operators
    • proposing to central government the development of light rail / tram networks that integrate, rather than compete, with other modes of transport in the area

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Planning and building control

    Climate actions might include:

    • imposing reasonable requirements that new developments comply with energy efficiency standards and get a proportion of their energy from local, renewable sources (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • incorporating additional energy performance standards into their Local Plan, for new works that require planning permission
    • using Area Action Plans to guide development proposals towards lower carbon emissions or more cycling and walking routes, for example
    • enforcing legislation that requires private rental properties to be of Energy Efficiency Rating E or above (Energy Efficiency Regulations, 2015)
    • funding energy efficiency improvements on existing homes, through initiatives such as Green Homes Grants

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Schools and libraries

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing the carbon footprint of civic buildings through better insulation and renewable energy use
    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
    • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    • encouraging eco-clubs at schools
    • using school land to plant trees and hedgerows, or to grow food

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Housing

    Climate actions might include:

    • setting energy standards above building regulations (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • enabling housing associations to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock through loans
    • where councils operate their own social housing, prioritising energy efficiency – for example, by requiring Passivhaus standard for newly built schemes

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Spending, procuring, and investing

    Climate actions might include:

    • embedding carbon impact assessment as part of the council’s budgeting and financial accountability process
    • utilising Public Works Loan Board loans or the Business Rates Retention Scheme to invest in emissions-reducing capital projects that otherwise wouldn’t get funded
    • specifying low carbon equipment and practices when procuring for relevant services from suppliers
    • prioritising positive environmental impacts during procurement, through the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
    Transport planning

    Climate actions might include:

    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ like walking and cycling by creating or widening footways and cycleways
    • incentivising Electric Vehicle use by assigning street space to EV charging
    • disincentivising the use of fossil fuel cars through congestion charging,low-traffic neighbourhoods, or the reduction of parking space

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Waste collection and disposal

    Climate actions might include:

    • establishing ‘Joint Waste Solutions’ with neighbouring councils, to get more value out of waste, recycling, and street cleaning contracts
    • running marketing campaigns to encourage residential recycling, reuse, and waste minimisation

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Read more about English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    rbwm.gov.uk
    Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s ‘carbon budget’ – their share towards meeting the UK’s Paris agreement targets.
    Friends of the Earth ‘Near You’ tool
    Discover climate groups in this area, data about Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/royal-borough-of-windsor-and-maidenhead/ [Accessed 1 Apr 2023].

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